California lawmakers pass expanded semi-automatic weapons ban

SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - New sales of semi-automatic rifles with removable magazines would be banned in California under a bill passed by the Democratic-led state legislature on Tuesday, and those who already own such weapons would have to register them.

The measure, which passed the state Assembly 44-31 and is expected to go to Governor Jerry Brown for his signature after amendments are approved in the state Senate, is one of a package of gun control bills passed earlier this year by senators in the wake of the massacre last year at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

It would classify as an assault weapon as any rifle that accepts a detachable magazine that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, and would ban its sale or purchase. People who already own such weapons would be required to register them.

"How many more innocent men, women and children have to be slaughtered while going about their daily lives before we do something?" asked Assemblyman Reginald B. Jones-Sawyer, Sr., a Democrat from Los Angeles, speaking in favor of the ban.

He ticked off a gruesome list of recent gun massacres: Sandy Hook, killings at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, the Colorado movie theater killings and others.

The road to passage has not been easy for several of the weapons measures introduced this year, despite California's history of strong gun control laws and large legislative majorities for Democrats, who tend to favor them.

New voting laws in the state have made it necessary for many Democrats - particularly in the Assembly - to win over moderates and conservatives, and Republicans were joined by several Democrats in opposing the bill.

"I don't know what the right word is to express how strongly I oppose this bill," said Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a Republican who represents the Southern California community of Twin Peaks, complaining that it amounted to a direct swipe against the constitutional right to bear arms.

California, which has some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation, already bans rifles with large-capacity fixed magazines, which cannot be removed. This bill would expand that ban to add rifles that accept large-capacity removable magazines.

Other bills in the package passed by the Senate would have tightened additional laws, including banning a type of trigger known as a button.

Faced with reluctance by the more conservative, but still Democratic leaning, state Assembly to take up the package, Assembly Speaker John Perez, himself a gun owner, placed the bills in legislative limbo where they remained for months.

Now, with the end of the session looming on Thursday, Perez late last week released three of the bills, including the one passed on Tuesday. Six Democrats joined Assembly Republicans to vote in the minority against the measure.

Two other bills remain active from the original package, and are expected to be heard later this week.
One would ban possession of any ammunition clip that holds more than 10 rounds, and the other bans people with multiple drug and alcohol convictions and convictions for gang-related crimes from owning a firearm for 10 years.

SO MY 94 year old Grand mother will need to register my late Grand fathers model remington 7400 30-06 he had for 50 years ? wow.
I wont go into what other relatives have these guns . they make a big mag for them so Im guessing it will need to be registered .

Other bills in the package passed by the Senate would have tightened additional laws, including banning a type of trigger known as a button.

great reporting . its noting to do with the trigger . try a bullet buttion mag release idiots .

See there you have it there will now be no more violence in California...

"What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?" -Thomas Jefferson-

"Our rights come from our humanity and may not be legislated away -- not by a vote of Congress, not by the consensus of our neighbors, not even by agreement of all Americans but one." Judge Andrew P. Napolitano

but the AKs obama gave the mexican drug cartels don't comply with all the new regs--- i guess the drug cartels will just turn their evil assault weapons in cause they got the wrong kind of "bullet button"??-- or thir mags just be too big??

i bet the armed cartel gangs LOVE the new laws! LOL everybody disarmed but THEM!

Ever notice that the two things that stand out when these people talk about "mass shootings"? 1. The shooters are insane and previous to the "deinstitutionalization Movement" starting in the 1970s would have been committed to mental institutions; and 2. most all were registered Democrats. Coincidence? hmmm...

When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America , you get a front row seat. - George Carlin

why this is allowed to happen an the supreme court has not heard a case on this crap is mind boggling.

I'm going to over simplify this.

It's a stacked deck. First someone sues Kalif. But Kalif. shuts 98% of the suits down because they say, "You can prove no harm so you have no standing to file." The few that get past the initial local venue and then appeal hit the Kalif. Supreme court. Again a lot of filtering happens. Each step of the way gentlemen all the way to SCOTUS.

jrs
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"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.", Will Durant

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.", Edmund Burke